Employers called to act on apprenticeships by the Hospitality Guild

The Hospitality Guild has launched a new apprenticeship campaign with the aims of addressing skills gaps and showcasing career development opportunities within the hospitality industry.

Titled ‘Act NOW’, the campaign is designed to raise both employers’ and learners’ awareness of the opportunities apprenticeships offer and help 20,000 people gain paid employment.

Executive director of the Hospitality Guild Suzy Jackson said the campaign was designed to meet the needs of all business, regardless of size.

“With more than 2.5m people unemployed throughout the UK, the hospitality industry is in a fantastic position to be able to help move people into work, especially through apprenticeships – and at the same time address its current skills gaps,” she commented.

“We want everyone to be able to take part, from small businesses that have never employed an apprentice before, through to large companies that are already employing hundreds of apprentices each year.

“We’ve developed a series of five simple steps that an employer can take, regardless of how big or small they are or whether they’ve employed an apprentice before.

“We wanted to create a campaign so that people knew exactly what they were being asked to do when we say Act NOW!”

Jackson revealed that a number of employers were already working with the Hospitality Guild and its partners to help meet the 20,000 jobs target.

“We’ve been doing a lot of work to promote pre-employment training and apprenticeships to a wide range of employers, especially through the Pub Perceptions Group. Organisations like Bartlett Mitchell are committed to interviewing people who have been through the pre-employment training programme, Employment 1st.

“The Institute of Hospitality has also played a major role in helping to promote the new Higher Apprenticeship in Hospitality Management, while the BII has specific apprenticeship programmes to attract new people into the pub industry. The Academy of Culinary Arts also offers a highly specialised chef programme, which illustrates that there are clear and exciting career development opportunities available in our industry.

“With apprenticeships offering these kinds of benefits and government funding available for a lot of businesses to cover training costs, apprenticeships are a great way to go.”